"I have heard talk and talk, but nothing is done. Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white men. … Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and broken promises. … You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. … I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Chapter 13
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bury_My_Heart_at_Wounded_Knee
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
58 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee →
Related Quotes
"“The nights and days were long before it came time for us to go to our homes,” Manuelito said. “The day before we wer…"
"In the old days he could have regained leadership by going to war, but the treaties pledged him not to engage in host…"
"We are only little herds of buffalo left scattered; the great herds that once covered the prairies are no more. See!—…"
"Next morning, bitter with defeat and feeling the weight of his sixty years, Little Crow made a last speech to his fol…"
"My wife and children are dear to me. Let them not grieve for me. Let them remember that the brave should be prepared …"
"“The Cheyennes do not break their word,” One-Eye replied. “If they should do so, I would not care to live longer.”"
"Wynkoop said afterward that his conversations with the two Cheyennes on this march caused him to change his long-held…"
"Bull Bear, a leader of the Dog Soldiers, said that he and his brother Lean Bear had tried to live in peace with white…"
"One of Anthony’s first orders was to cut the Arapahos’ rations and to demand the surrender of their weapons. They gav…"
"It began with Christopher Columbus, who gave the people the name Indios. Those Europeans, the white men, spoke in dif…"